And in summation (Victoria, Seattle, the Kootenay Rockies)...

Okay, okay - it's almost November and I realize I need to finish summing up our road trip! I can't believe that we arrived home more than six weeks ago. So here it is, the last week:

DAYS 16-17:
From Tofino, we headed southeast to Victoria, considered Canada's most British city. This small, charming town offered up idyllic streets for wandering, shopping, flea-marketing and more. Our hostel was by far the coolest hostel I've ever stayed in - in the middle of town, it had a teeny bar and restaurant that offered $5 dinners (veggie-friendly!), and was walking distance to everything.

Another favorite destination was Beacon Hill Park, where we were treated to expansive views of the coastline and the Olympic National Forest across the way in Washington state. In our day and a half in Victoria, we also managed to fit in a trip to Butchart Gardens, which were spectacularly lit up at night, and included a live concert by a fun local Celtic band. Hello, beer-drinking songs!

Another highlight of Victoria was high tea, which I had reserved six weeks in advance at a very popular local establishment, White Heather Tea Room. We felt quite British as we sipped the place's signature "Mad Hatter" tea blend and noshed on scones and jam, tea sandwiches and pastries. This was another fabulous stop along our gluttonous tour of western Canada!

DAYS 18-21:
Following our whirlwind tour of Victoria, we caught an early ferry to Seattle. After close to perfect weather for most of our trip, we were not too surprised to be met with a downpour for the majority of our three days in Seattle. However it did nothing to hinder our enjoyment of the fabulous city. Within a day, Ben and I were entertaining notions of how to move there.

We stayed in Capitol Hill, the quirky yet chic gay district close to downtown. We rented an amazing condo with a large balcony (if we craned our necks a bit and squinted, we could see the downtown skyline and even a bit of the bay), a fab kitchen and modern decor.

One of the things that excited me most about visiting Seattle was the potential for good veggie food paired with yummy microbrews. It did not disappoint - I was in foodie heaven! For our first evening, we wandered around and ended up at a funky little spot called Honey Hole, where I pigged out on a vegan BLT and a top-notch margarita (or two), and Ben got a beef brisket sandwich - yes, the place achieved that rare combination of great veggie AND carnivorous options!

Our next day in Seattle we covered many of the typical tourist spots and some of the not-so-typical, like a rain-drenched flea market in the oh-so-funky Freemont neighborhood! Ben found some cool vintage cuff links and I drooled over supple, handmade leather purses that were way out of our price range! Freemont is also home to the Theo Choclate Factory, which we dedicated a not insignificant amount of time to exploring (err ... sampling!) What better way to warm up than with a thick, fudgey sip of chipotle hot chocolate? Apparently tours needed to be booked weeks in advance, but it was fun to visit nonetheless! Next we tracked down the Freemont Troll, a huge sculpture under a bridge - the troll is crushing a real VW bug in one of its hands.

Our next stop was the Experience Music Project, a super fun rock'n'roll museum, followed by a trip up the Space Needle for a sunset view, complete with a rainbow. Lucky us!

Another day meant another chance to eat and explore - and drink coffee, of course! (We of sampled as many different coffee spots as we could squeeze in.) It was downtown and to the harbor, but to get there we took a meandering walk through various parts of town. I found a great vintage leather purse (this one I could afford!) at a girly boutique in Capitol Hill, and we warmed up with a hot, spicy lunch at a vegetarian noodle house, my first noodle house experience. Then, once again, foodie heaven at the Pike Place Farmer's Market!! We hopped into the massive line at Piroshky Piroshky (not sure if this is the same as a pirogi?) and boy was it worth the wait! Just the smells coming out of the tiny bakery had me drooling before we got inside.

And we could not skip a coffee from the original Starbucks. We tried food samples galore, sipped a beer overlooking the water, then walked along the coast through the Olympic Sculpture Park. We learned the hard way that the next part of town we wanted to explore was not exactly walking distance - after about 30 minutes into an industrial section of town, we lucked out and found a taxi to tote us to the up-and-coming Ballard neighborhood. We started at a beloved local cupcake shop for espressos, then found a true gastro-pub and sampled some unusual beers. After walking around for a while longer, we found space in our bellies for pizza from another cozy local spot, Snoose Junction Pizzeria. Then it was home to rest our overloaded tummies before meeting Ben's cousin and her husband for a few more beers (sheesh, I promise there was more to this trip and beer-drinking!)

On our last morning, we had coffee and breakfast at Cafe Presse, which had been voted one of the best new coffee spots, and was touted as a very French-style cafe. We sat in front of the window and for a moment convinced ourselves we were actually back in Paris with baguettes and Americanos. Yum! We walked off the carbs at Volunteer Park, also in Capitol Hill, where we could view some great angles of the city, as well as the Asian Art Museum, home of the Black Sun sculpture that inspired Soundgarden's 'Black Hole Sun' song! Also in the park was a wonderful greenhouse - a nice place to spend a rainy morning! We took a quick jaunt downtown to visit the architectural wonder that is the Seattle Public Library, and just as we were getting ready to leave town, remembered that there was one more restaurant Ben had been dying to try after seeing it on the Food Network: Salumi, a cured-meat shop owned and run by Mario Battali's father. We literally got there just as they were running out of food for the day - Ben got the second to last sandwich - and it was a good thing, because he was definitely in sandwich heaven with that salami, Gorgonzola and artisan bread combo.

Phew, so that was Seattle - it was our sort of town, we felt right at home there!!

DAY 22 - 23:
As some may know, we stopped in Spokane, as I had considered it as a possible place to live eventually. Ruled it out quickly - enough said! We left quite early with plans to drive straight back to Calgary in a day.

We stopped in an adorable town - Bonners Ferry - in Idaho of all places, for lunch. Much to our surprise, we tried wines from local vineyards that were quite tasty. It was a wonderful break from our hours of driving. After crossing the Canadian border, we quickly made it back into the Alberta Rocky Mountains, which felt strangely familiar and warm to me after being away for several weeks. Bad weather began rolling in, it was getting dark out, and I was not yet ready for our adventure to be over.

Again, luck was on our side and we stumbled onto some adorable cabins in Kootenay National Park. The woodsy, rustic restaurant was just closing down, but the owner and chef could not have been more gracious, offering to prepare dinner for us anyway and hooking us up with exactly the kind of cozy cabin I had imagined holing up in in the Rocky Mountains! Though it got chilly at night, Ben started up a fire and I couldn't have been happier or thought of a better way to spend the last night of our trip.

Before hitting the road in the morning, we did one final mountain hike on a glorious sunny day, then headed on to our brand new rental home back in Calgary.

Road Trip: Days 13 - 15 (Tofino & Ucluelet)

DAYS 13 & 14:
After our super exciting day of whale watching, we got up early the next morning, packed up the campsite and started southward again, back along the same (and only) island road that had carried us to Telegraph Cove. We cut due west across Vancouver Island for another gorgeous drive through parks and small towns, although I was feeling a bit too tired of driving at this point to appreciate the views as much as I probably should have!

A little over four hours later, we had arrived at Greenpoint Campground in the Pacific Rim National Reserve, a protected temperate, old-growth rainforest. The very first place I had booked, exactly three months earlier on the first day reservations opened up, this campground was the crowning glory of our trip. Our site was huge and private, surrounded by proud, ancient hemlock trees dripping in soft green lichen. A five-minute walk took us out of the green-hued forest and onto a wide-open, wind-blown, white-sand beach thrashed by the Pacific Ocean. We had three nights in this magical place.

After night's sleep in our trusty tent, Alicia and I enjoyed a morning run on the beach (well, Alicia ran and I mostly lagged behind dong my own version of power-walking interspersed with light jogging); then spent much of our day relaxing around the campground. I don't think any of us were quite sure what to do or how to begin to take everything in!

We eventually decided to join a ranger-led rainforest walk, and then drove to the nearby town of Ucluelet where we paid $5 to take showers, and next bought mounds of fresh seafood from a fish market to prepare over the campfire for dinner.

DAY 15:
One of the big things you must do while in the Pacific Rim towns of Tofino and/or Ucluelet is kayak. So we headed out early for a guided kayak tour around Tofino. Though the morning was overcast for the first half of our trip, the waters were calm and Ben and I enjoyed the tranquility in our two-person kayak, constantly falling behind the rest of the group! We paddled for about one hour, to Meares Island, home of 800- to 1300-year-old trees, and the staging ground for one of Canada's first environmental movements, when protesters stopped loggers from destroying the island.

Sadly, the battle is still going on between lumber companies and the natives who inhabited the island centuries ago, with many people (pessimistically) predicting that lumber companies will eventually name a price high enough that it will be chopped to bits. Actually, lots of the area around here was being logged until portions became protected. This fact is evident as you drive into the rainforest through decimated, stump-covered hillsides.

After our kayak trip, Alicia and Ben bravely rented a surfboard and wetsuits, since Tofino is a huge surfing destination! I opted for beach-laying and journal-writing, producing the following:

"Sunshine, finally! Today is our second full day in Tofino, and it's been tough to warm up here, between the wind, clouds and constant dampness in the air. But now the sun is bright and I'm enjoying a seemingly endless view of the Pacific Ocean - due west is Australia, across those wild waters!

This area is fascinating - it's all a temperate rainforest, so things are lush and green. The rugged landscape of cedars, hemlocks and pines, creating dense, dark forests, never ceases to surprise when suddenly you emerge on a windswept beach with the softest sand I think I've ever felt under foot. It's such an odd contrast to the wild and windy shore, but then again, all of this area seems to be a study in contrasts: loggers versus environmentalists; First-Nations people versus Canadians; high-end tourism versus hippies and surfers who populate the cheap campgrounds and hostels.

Tonight is our third and final night to camp here. It is also our last night of camping for the trip, which in my mind is a blessing, as I feel I've reached my camping quota after seven nights in a row ... and a running total of 11 nights for this trip. But how else would we have afforded all the fabulous food and activities we've indulged in?!

Last night we found a wonderful fish market in Ucluelet, a smaller, more mellow (if that's possible) town south of Tofino, and bought dungeness crab, chinook salmon and scallops, all caught locally that very day. Sadly, the crab lost its life while we were standing in the next room. Though I almost cried at that moment, I thoroughly enjoyed the crab legs a few hours later after Ben steamed them over the campfire and served them up with lemon butter sauce! The whole meal was one I won't soon forget - fresh veggies roasted over the fire, alongside piles of the freshest and most amazing seafood, even accompanied by a delicious local wine, Quail's Gate chenin blanc. I was in heaven!

The simple things are always the best - you don't need a fancy restaurant when a campfire, good people and good ingredients will do the job instead.

This trip has been amazing so far - not exactly the warm, beachy summer vacation I'm accustomed to, but no less inspiring and joy-inducing! I am beyond thrilled to finally have the motivation to write for myself again. Perhaps because I was writing for a living for years, I got burned out. Perhaps I just hadn't seen the right things to inspire me - I almost feel as though my creativity froze up right along with the icy Calgary winter, and now it's thawing back out. Hooray! My mind feels free, curious and excited once more, now that my pen is hitting paper with wreckless abandon."

Road Trip: Days 9-12 (Hornby Island & Telegraph Cove)

Sorry for the huge lapse in my trip report - I hope I haven't left anybody hanging in total suspense for too long! I have been busy settling into our new house, job hunting, volunteering and enjoying the last few weeks of amazing weather we had here in Calgary. During the week of my birthday, September 24, we actually had highs in the 80s and lots of sunshine. Quite UNLIKE today, which finds us with snow on the ground and a temperature hovering around the freezing point. Sigh, how quickly things change...

I figured I better finish writing about our trip before I forget what it felt like to be outside in nice weather!! So here goes, picking up at day nine I will try to speed up my summary to catch us back up to present time...

DAY 9:
We were up early today to catch our ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island. The first of many ferry rides, we were treated to absolutely gorgeous, sunny weather with crystal clear views not only of the Vancouver skyline to the east, but also of the small mountain ranges of Vancouver Island to our west. After a quick ride to the main part of Vancouver Island, we drove an hour north and caught another ferry, this one much smaller, to the tiny Denman Island just off the coast. From there, one last little ferry took us to our home for the following two nights, Hornby Island.

Many Canadians we had spoken to before our trip had no idea what or where Hornby Island was; I selected it based on a TV show I'd seen that painted Hornby Island as an idyllic, hippie-haven not yet discovered by tourists. At 8.85 square miles, and with a population of just over 1,000, we felt we'd discovered a hidden treasure as we drove into our campsite located on a peaceful bay off the Pacific Ocean.


DAY 10:
I woke up uncharacteristically early the next morning, feeling invigorated, and headed down to the beach with a towel to do some yoga, and a crisp new journal I had purchased on Granville Island in Vancouver, and wrote the following, my first attempt at poetry in quite some time:



Happy Hippie on Hornby Island:

I want to take a photograph with words, express the peace here-
the solemnity of the Pacific as it reaches this remote bay,
the happy way it laps at the shore,
playful yet serene as it takes a break from its usual toil
of churning waves and doing battle with storms.

Here things are quiet.

Purple starfish spread out in the sun on shallow rocks,
untainted by the hands of humans;
Sea animals call out at night, safe in these natural harbors;
Trees shiver off their bark, rustling gently
as they stretch out and up to enjoy the view.

And me?
I sit, try to be still.
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Here's more from my journal, if you're not yet tired of my ramblings about Hornby Island!

"Hornby Island is just a happy place! It feels instantly peaceful, perhaps because of the remoteness of it. Life is slower here - people seem to take everything in, to appreciate their natural surroundings, and to really live off the land.

On our first stop for the ferry, we found a seafood shop and sampled local smoked wild sockeye salmon. Yum! On Denman Island, waiting for our next ferry, the snack of choice was ice cream sold from an old VW van painted yellow. It was clearly home-made and very creative: I tried cherry-plum-chocolate. The tart fresh plum and cherry chunks mixed with rich chocolate made for one of the best ice creams I have ever had! Ben had chocolate rhubarb, another unique and delicious flavor.

Once on the quiet Island, we set up camp and got down to the hard business of laying on the beach with a book. The beach by our campground is actually comprised of hard sandstone rocks and the sea life seems very healthy. We immediately noticed a plethora of purple starfish, scuttling crabs and jellyfish among other things. We heard some strange, bellowing sounds arise from the bay waters and wondered if there might be porpoises - or even whales - in our midst.

After a decent night's sleep, I made my way to the beach for some yoga - bliss! - and to enjoy a solitude that is rarely found in life, away from the sounds of lots of people, or electricity, or music, or sirens, or any of that hubbub that becomes so normal in our lives. Now I only hear water lapping against rocks, the occasional kayaker paddling by, or maybe a lone boat way off in the distance. What a way to start the day!"

After a great morning, we whiled away our day with a slow-paced, 5k hike that took us through old-growth forests and along a stunning cliffs that jutted over the bay. We went into the tiny town, which seems to be mostly based on a barter system, with a co-op forming the commercial center, eventually returned to our campground where we bought a pizza, toted along a cooler with inexpensive local beers and planted ourselves on the waterfront to take in a spectacular sunset.

It was tough to leave this little sliver of paradise the next morning, but we knew the next leg of our trip, set aside for whale watching in Telegraph Cove on the Northern tip of Vancouver Island, would be equally wonderful!

DAYS 11 & 12:
(from the travel journal)
"Luck was on our side in Telegraph Cove! As we drive out right now, on bumpy gravel and barely-paved roads that were until recently used strictly by logging trucks, the sky is gray - a sort of whitish-gray cloud cover that promises nothing. Not the threat of rain nor hope of sun, but simply hanging in the damp air, stating its presence.

Yesterday's whale-watching tour, though, was nothing but clear skies and crystal blue waters. The whales were so active that our enthusiastic guide extended the trip by two hours! We first spotted a lone, transient male Orca, and soon after that cruised in amid two clans of resident Orcas. Apparently it was rare to see them all out socializing together - maybe even mating. Our wonderful guide Bill dropped a microphone into the water so we could listen to them talk. We could distinctly hear the different calls of the two clans - the "eeh-aww" sound of one, versus a high-pitched, cat-like sound of another.

We watched as they played, napped, fished and swam right beside our boat - what magnificent creatures! I am even more in awe of them, these intelligent, human-like sea-dwellers.

As if seeing at least 10-15 Orcas frolicking in their natural habitat was't enough, we moved on to a gorgeous, remote part of the straight and found a Humpback whale - as well as a young Humpback calf.

At one moment, everybody on the boat was looking toward a flock of birds on the water, where our guide expected to Humpback to emerge to feed ... suddenly it surfaced immediately beside our boat, its huge mass as long as the boat, giving us a total scare - with a few passengers getting sprayed by the blowhole! It was magical to see its gray, bumpy hulk up close and in action. After giving us a show, the humpback went on to hunt for about ten minutes. We watched it surface several more times, mouth open, trying to catch birds for lunch.

Not only did we see these really lively whale interactions, but we also saw several bald eagles, northern sea lions and harbor seals, and to top it off, two Minke whales on our way back to the harbor.

The mossy, old-growth forests of Telegraph Cove were different than anything I'd seen before - our campground was covered in a canopy of old, twisted, gnarly pines that blocked out any sliver of sunlight, leaving us shrouded in an eerie green light the whole time - very interesting!"

Click Below for More Photos:
Roadtrip Part 3 Photo Album